Yahoo VP Leaves for Google as Layoffs Rage

I had the pleasure of listening to then-Yahoo Vice President for Product Strategy Bradley Horowitz speak at Renaissance Makati City Hotel last year. He sounded like an incredibly smart guy, successfully answering a sticky question from yours truly. That’s why I’m not surprised Google pirated him.

He will be working with Joe Kraus, director of product management and head of Google’s OpenSocial initiative, although we do not yet know his exact role.

This is a blow for Yahoo. Most new products (at least the fun stuff) goes through his group, and he is often the face of Yahoo at industry events. He is universally liked and respected, certainly outside of Yahoo and, as far as I can tell, within.

Bradley joined Yahoo in May 2004 as Director of Multimedia Search, and later worked on Yahoo Desktop Search and the Yahoo Toolbar. He was also key in getting the Flickr acquisition done.